This volume catalogues for the first time more than six hundred bronze and iron objects in the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Each is illustrated and described and then discussed in terms of its formal and stylistic aspects, cultural background, function, and chronology. Bibliographic citations present comparative material relevant to each object. A distinctive feature of this catalogue is its organization. Within the geographical sections the excavated objects appear first, separated from the unexcavated material that is stylistically attributed to the same area. Extensive cross-referencing within the catalogue entries relates objects that arc formally similar, as well as those that are geographically or culturally associated. The objects presented here have been acquired by the Metropolitan Museum over the last century through the Museum's participation in archaeological excavations, by exchange with other institutions, and by purchase or gift.

The geographical areas they represent include much of the ancient Near Eastern world: Iran, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, and Arabia. By studying the objects and the commentary offered in this catalogue, the reader may explore ancient cultures and the problems confronting modern archaeology and scholarship.

Oscar White Muscarella, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is both an archaeologist and an art historian. He has participated in archaeological excavations in the United States, at Mesa Verde, Colorado, and Swan Creek, South Dakota; in Turkey at Gordion; and in Iran at Hasanlu, Dinkha Tepe, Agrab Tepe, Se Girdan, and Nush-i Jan. In his dedication to scholarship in archaeology and in Near Eastern antiquities, Dr. Muscarella has written many articles and book reviews and has published four books on those subjects: Phrygian Fibulae from Gordion (1967); Ancient Art: The Norbert Schimmel Collection, editor (1974); The Catalogue of Ivories from Hasanlu, Iran (1980); and Ladders to Heaven, editor (1981).

Ira Spar and Michael Jursa. Cuneiform Texts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Volume IV: The Ebabbar Temple Archive and Other Texts from the Fourth to the First Millenium B.C.. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014.

Russell, John Malcolm. From Nineveh to New York: the strange story of the Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum and the hidden masterpiece at Canford Manner. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997.

Taylor, Francis Henry. "The Archaic Smile: A Commentary on the Arts in Times of Crisis." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 10, no. 8 (April, 1952). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1952.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, introduction by Peter Dorman, Prudence Oliver Harper, and Holly Pittman. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, Egypt and the Ancient Near East. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Ebla in the Third Millennium B.C." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "List of Rulers of Mesopotamia." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Lydia and Phrygia." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Phrygia, Gordion, and King Midas in the Late Eighth Century B.C." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550330 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Akkadian Period (ca. 23502150 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Halaf Period (65005500 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Hittites." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Nahal Mishmar Treasure." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Phoenicians (1500300 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Rediscovery of Assyria." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Sasanian Empire (224651 A.D.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Seleucid Empire (32364 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Ubaid Period (55004000 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Ugarit." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Ur: The Royal Graves." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Ur: The Ziggurat." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Urartu." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Uruk: The First City." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Greek and Roman Art. "Nabataean Kingdom and Petra." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Department of Greek and Roman Art. "Palmyra." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

Fowlkes-Childs, Blair, expanded original text by Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Parthian Empire (247 B.C.224 A.D.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.